The present invention relates to an axle suspension for heavy vehicles, in particular trucks such as large dump trucks, comprising an axle beam which bears axle parts projecting over at oppositely disposed sides, each axle part preferably having a wheel drive; an axle beam bearing which permits upward and downward movements of the axle beam as well as pendular movements of the axle beam around a substantially lying pendular axis transverse to the longitudinal direction of the axle parts; a spring device for the resilient support of the upward and downward movements of the axle beam at a vehicle frame; and also a pendular damping device for the damping of the pendular movements of the axle beam.
With a specific truck construction, the rear axle is formed from two axle parts which are arranged approximately parallel, which are arranged to the right and to the left at an axle beam and are movably connected by the said axle beam via corresponding support points to the vehicle frame or to a part connected thereto. Wheels are fastened to the said axle parts so that the axle beam extends so-to-say between the wheels arranged at the right and at the left. Wheel drives, in particular singular wheel drives, are advantageously arranged laterally at the said axle parts and the said wheels can be driven by means of them.
The axle beam is resiliently suspended at the vehicle frame via the said spring device, which can be configured, for example, in the form of a suspension strut, such that the axle beam has an advantageously larger spring travel together with the wheels fastened thereto and so has a vertical movability upwardly and downwardly in order also to be able to compensate larger ground irregularities such as can occur, for example, with excavation vehicles in the uneven terrain to be driven on. On the other hand, axle suspensions of this type should also be able to oscillate around a lying pendular axis facing approximately in the direction of travel or the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, so that road surface irregularities such as obliquely extending elongate grooves, for example, between the wheels arranged to the right and to the left of the axle beam can be compensated in a pendular manner. In this connection, the wheel arranged at the left on the axle beam, for example, moves slightly upwardly, whereas the wheel arranged at the right on the axle beam moves slightly downwardly.
At higher driving speeds on irregular road surfaces, this free movability of the axle beam around the said lying pendular axis in addition to the upward and downward movability in the upright direction as well as the resilient properties of the pneumatic tires can result in uncontrolled rotary movements of the axle units and substantially impair the handling of the truck. To provide a remedy here, it has already been proposed to use movement damping devices which, as a rule, act in an oil-hydraulic manner and/or mechanically and are arranged directly between the wheel units and the vehicle frame. Such damping devices, however, usually induce a restriction of the spring travel of the axle beam or large spring travels of the axle beam cannot be carried out in the upward and downward direction when such movement dampers are used. The very limited space relationships in the region of the rear axle of such trucks represent an aggravating factor here.